Home sales cooled in Vancouver Island to close out the summer.
That from the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board’s (VIREB) August update. They say that 324 homes were sold north of the Malahat through the month, which is a seven per cent increase from August 2022, and a 21 per cent decrease from July 2023.
VIREB chair Kelly O’Dwyer says it’s normal that the market cools a little towards the end of the season.
“The last two weeks of August were slower than the rest of the summer, which isn’t surprising,” says
O’Dwyer. “The market is usually pretty quiet right before school starts again.”
Market reports from the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) show that the provincial housing market has been more resilient than expected through this year, with both home sales and prices holding up in the face of the latest interest rate hikes from the Bank of Canada.
The benchmark price of a home dropped two per cent from last year to $770,500 which is actually a slight increase from July.
Here were the benchmark prices of a single family home in markets across the island, along with their percentage change year-over-year:
Campbell River – $673,700, up one per cent
Comox Valley – $819,400, down three per cent
Cowichan Valley – $781,300, down two per cent
Nanaimo – $799,200, down two per cent
North Island – $437,000, down six per cent
Parksville-Qualicum – $896,200, up one per cent
Port Alberni – $528,500, down four per cent
Island averages for apartments were $397,900, which is a one per cent decrease, and townhouses were $560,400, which is about the same as last year.
